Applebee's Is Trying To Shake Its Boring Imagehttp://www.businessinsider.com/applebees-business-plan-changes-2014-5/comments
en-usWed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500Sun, 02 Aug 2015 19:37:14 -0400Ashley Lutzhttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/536bfc826bb3f79b6be3ef93Brandon DuBoisThu, 08 May 2014 17:52:02 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/536bfc826bb3f79b6be3ef93
I don't think anybody finds Applebee's to be boring. Long before IHOP acquired the company they made quality foods - I worked for one back then... We cut up our lettuce fresh in-house. We prepared our salad dressings in-house. It was a great restaurant. I moved to Florida after working for one for nearly 2 years, and we didn't have one nearby to transfer to so I worked somewhere else. Fast forward a few years, I moved again and started bartending for an Applebee's (this is after the IHOP acquisition) - the food is all complete garbage now. They microwave nearly everything. Nothing is fresh.
What Applebee's needs to get rid of isn't the "boring" image it's made up as an excuse. It needs to get rid of the "every single thing they cook is microwaved and crap" image that anyone who has ever eaten at one knows.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/536996e3ecad04f77645c44fExspensive SlopTue, 06 May 2014 22:13:55 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/536996e3ecad04f77645c44f
I ate there once, had a grilled chicken leg that was left over from the Battle of the Bulge and it cost over 15 bucks. Applebees serves cheap foods at exorbitant prices, like Olive Garden's high prices for pasta and sauce.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5369961becad049b0a45c44bopiate82Tue, 06 May 2014 22:10:35 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5369961becad049b0a45c44b
They don't need to shake their boring image, they need to shake their "all of our meals are prepared in a microwave" image.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53698d07ecad04724e45c44dTruffle PigTue, 06 May 2014 21:31:51 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53698d07ecad04724e45c44d
Here, take my like.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/536967bc6bb3f7e43345c44btherealgregTue, 06 May 2014 18:52:44 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/536967bc6bb3f7e43345c44b
I would change the name. Call it "Americana Family Gastropub" or some such hipster shit like that. The Applebees brand is forever toast, best left at the curbhttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/53696328ecad044a1345c44dGerico930Tue, 06 May 2014 18:33:12 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53696328ecad044a1345c44d
That's a nice press release but I am still not eating at Applebee's. Ate at one when the water pump of my car failed in the middle of nowhere, and the Applebee's was across the street from Pep Boys, which is where my car got towed to.
So I thought "At least I can have a nice meal while the guys in the shop decide how bad to ream me," but it was not to be.
I was ready to be entertained, wined and dined, I had a few hours to kill, but Applebee's was not up to the task, to the point where the waiting room at Pep Boys, with its 2 year old issues of "Car and Driver" magazines, was a better alternative.
When you prefer to spend your time in a Pep Boys waiting room rather than spend another minute in a restaurant, you know that something just ain't right about the restaurant.